The truth of these days is not that which really is, but what every man persuades another man to believe.
Michel de MontaigneVirtue rejects facility to be her companion. She requires a craggy, rough and thorny way.
Michel de MontaigneIf my intentions were not to be read in my eyes and voice, I should not have survived so long without quarrels and without harm, seeing the indiscreet freedom with which I say, right or wrong, whatever comes into my head.
Michel de MontaigneThere is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.
Michel de MontaigneOne may disavow and disclaim vices that surprise us and whereto our passions transport us. But those which by long habit are rooted in a strong and anchored in a powerful will are not subject to contradiction. Repentance is but a denying of our will, and an opposition of our fantasies, which diverts us here and there.
Michel de Montaigne